Are You There God? It's Me, Mary: The Shangri-Las and the Punk Rock Love Song

By Tracy Landecker

Description

An insightful look at legendary 1960s girl group, the Shangri-las: four young street-smart girls from Queens, New York who, along with their producer Shadow Morton, invented the bad-ass but vulnerable image that would be the blueprint for rock 'n' roll heroines for decades to come. Death, longing, and abandonment colored their work, bringing them into a timeless romantic realm that transcended their genre. The Shangs' melodramatic and emotionally charged music mirrored the angst of teenagers who were growing up amid the familial and cultural unrest of the time; it inspired punk and Goth artists in the decades that followed, and still strikes a universal teenage nerve today.